Midnight Rain
by KeeleyWrites
Summary: How could anyone really feel alone with a family as big as hers? [ ahk x oc. ]


The sunlight just started to rise over the horizon of New York City, a thin layer of fog and frost covered the air and ground like a blanket. It was a natural occurrence for the regular inhabitants of America's Big Apple, but not for the _lone_ **Australian** , who had just come from _temperatures_ soaring in the mid to high thirties. Stella Daley, a seemingly short Blonde with striking blue eyes and a _fiery_ personality to match, hurried through the already bustling streets of Manhattan. It was true what they say, New York never slept even when it was half past five in the morning.

The sounds of taxis and cars flowing past the Aussie made her tense slightly, too many people that she didn't know, too many people that could just as easily _hurt_ her … She just wanted to reach her brothers apartment and _go_ to sleep. Stella had never been any good at sleeping on planes, _something_ about her **SMALL** fear of flying.

Her left hand was gripping tightly onto the straps of her backpack that was rested over her shoulders, while the other held onto her blue suitcase that was trailing behind her. The blonde _was_ muttering under her breath about how ridiculous the weather was being, though it WAS like Stella to pick so close to Christmas to return to the second place that she called home.

It took the young Aussie another ten minutes to locate the apartment that her _brother_ cousin was now living in. Blue eyes looked up at the tall building, stuffing the piece of paper (that she had taken out that had the exact address) into her **red** coat and grinning slightly. Well she WAS _grinning_ until she realised that the apartment didn't have a working elevator.

"Oh come on," Stella mumbled to herself as she shook some blonde curls out of her face. "I'm so tired, I can't walk up forty flights of stairs." However, she did and she made it. A puff of air escaped her lips as she all but KICKED open the **stairwell** door. Slowly Stella started to wander down the hallway, smiling at people that were coming and going from their apartments. She came to a pause as she stood in front of her brother's door, before throwing three hard knocks against the **METALLIC** door.

Lawrence Daley wasn't _really_ her brother; he was her cousin. But she had no other siblings, and Larry was the _only_ one out of her extended family that she ever really connected with. Stella couldn't really remember much about her parents, only that they died when she was young. They were American citizens but had been living in Australia for most of the time they had been married. The government looked at Stella's records, finding that she had family in America, before she was promptly _moved_ overseas, and out of the Australian Adoption Agency's hands. When she was younger, Stella thought it was **curse** that she had to move so far away just to live with family, but as she grew older, she found it was a blessing. Her Uncle and Aunt were kind people and **looked** after her decently, her _brother_ Lawrence would end up being her rock.

Stella's train of thought was interrupted by the **FRONT** door flying open, to reveal a half asleep Lawrence, wearing a scowl upon his brow. So he had apparently been home from his **NIGHT** shift for a while then.

"Look whatever it is that you're selling? I'm not buying…" Blonde brows furrowed and Stella shifted in her spot.

"Law?" She called to him, stepping forward slightly.

"Besides who comes selling things door to door nowadays, thought it was all over the phone, when half of you guys aren't even in the country…" It would have been funny to Stella, if she wasn't tired and _starting_ to get irritated.

"Larry!" her voice rose slightly, accent _shining_ through.

"I mean … why can't you give the selling of _stupid and impractical insurances_ to others. I mean god forbid you have a decent _job_ …" he would have kept ranting, had it not been for the hand that _slapped_ him across the cheek.

"For God's sake, Lawrence it's me!" Accent very much there now, as Larry stood still, a hand pressed against his cheek as he finally noticed who was in front of him. Instead of forgetting about what she had just done and **welcomed** her with open arms, he looked down at the blonde.

"Ow!" he whined. Blue eyes rolled _heavily,_ as Stella ended up pushing her way past Larry and into the small kitchenette of the apartment. "Stella!" he _called_ after her.

A smirk crossed her features as Stella left her suitcase near the hallway and dumped her backpack onto the kitchen bench. She stripped off her **red** coat and threw that onto the chair that was beside her, running her hands through blonde hair that had finally fallen out of its ponytail. "Oh please you get worse than that from the monkey," she retorted fanning herself slightly, before rolling the sleeves of her _light_ purple top up her arms. "My God, Lawrence what happened to this country? It's gotten freezing!"

"You can't go around slapping people out of the blue!" Of course he would ignore any type of conversation until AFTER he had gotten what he wanted to say out of his system. Larry rubbed his cheek again before he shut the front door and followed after her into the kitchen. His own blue eyes focused on her for what felt like _hours._ It had been almost **three** months since they had last seen each other. For most **SIBLINGS** it would have been due to something _awkward_ , or to a falling out. But for the Daley's it was neither of those, they just **got** so busy with their own lives, _and_ plane tickets weren't always cheap; time seemed to **move** faster than they had the chance to catch up.

It was Larry that moved first, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips as he **stumbled** towards her and wrapped his arms around her shorter frame. Stella laughed slightly as her arms wrapped up and around his shoulders, as her forehead buried itself against his chest. "I've missed you, Law." Her voice was muffled as Larry tightened his hold on her, cheek resting against the top of her head.

"I've missed you too, Elle." They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, before Stella pulled away. A grin **spread** across her lips, as she wiped away some stray tears that seemed to have **appeared** while in Lawrence's embrace. "How have you been? You keeping up with your rent? How long has it been since you were last in _jail_?" Questions fired off even before Stella got the chance to sit down.

"Okay, first of all it was _only_ a bloody **holding** cell. And I was in there for **TWO** nights, secondly yes … I have obviously been keeping up with my bloody rent. Otherwise, how in the hell do you think I've managed to **COME** here?" Stella has always been attached to her **brother** , emotionally, physically (for one unexplained reasoning during senior year) **AND** money wise. He always wanted to keep an eye on her, although he had barely enough money for himself and Nicky after the divorce (which Stella was glad happened.) He always managed to spare some change for her. "I've just come by for the holidays and **apartment** hunting, before I actually move _ALL_ of my crap across the ocean."

"Oh Elle, you know that's not what _I_ meant. Just let me know when you're coming next time? So that I can actually prepare and not want to chase you out of the building." Stella couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips then.

"Oh was that what you were doing?" She teased, arms crossing over her chest.

"Yes, as a matter of fact it was." He defended himself by standing higher even more than he needed to. She was only five foot two, _shorter_ than a grasshopper.

"What with? Ranting?" Stella couldn't help it as even more laughter spilled from her lips, before Larry gripped onto her SHOULDER and pulled her towards him again, _pulling_ down and into a headlock. **A** squeal filled the air as Stella managed to pull away from her brother, hands coming to fix her shoulder length hair.

"Everyone at the museum has missed you too, you know?" a small _groan_ escaped her lips. "Especially Ahk." Larry _let_ his tone drop, as he teased her.

"No please for the love of god … _don't_ bring up …"

"Remember the night you two met?" Stella shook her head as she **picked** up her backpack and _made_ a run for it down the hall. "Because **he** certainly does!"

"Lawrence!" She called back over her shoulder, Stella _shoved_ past the mess that was pilling up outside of Nick's bedroom to the study, which was also the **GUEST** bedroom. Shutting the door and throwing herself face first down on the single bed.

It wasn't the nicest of circumstances that she had met the young Pharaoh. Larry had told her to stay home, that she should have been _in_ bed. But this was a ONCE in a lifetime chance, of course she would believe him when he said that everything in the museum came alive when the sun would go down. But obviously the young Australian had to see it for herself. The flu had caught her off guard, on the day she was coming in with him to work, but she **GOT** out of bed, got dressed andwent.

To say Stella Daley had been unwell was an understatement. _She_ took one glance at the Pharaoh and _promptly_ **THREW** up at his feet, she had most definitely **FALLEN** at a king's feet after that, blacking out. Stella woke up not that long later to _him_ , watching her with concern. Grey eyes asking more than _his_ voice was. **ASKING** if she was alright, but she all but started to cry. Larry had to take her home after that.

Though it wasn't long after that incident, that Ahkmenrah and Stella had gotten along _quite_ well after all the embarrassment and _awkwardness_ had passed. They had gotten close, so close that a kiss had almost been shared between the two of them. BUT Ahk had a _**rather**_ shitty brother. After the incident at the Smithsonian, she had left the country and it had been **three** years since had seen the Pharaoh last.

A groan escaped Stella's lips as she rolled onto her back and took a deep breath, letting the _air_ escape through her teeth. A hand came up and ran through her fringe. Tomorrow night would be interesting, that's for sure.

-xx-

 **A/N: *YELLS LOUDLY* Well hello again natm fandom, it is I, Keeley. I have crawled back from the dead to give you this new and improved (I hope) version of** _ **Sister Daley.**_ **This is also totally an impulse thing, NATM 3 was on tv tonight and I watched it with mum and I was** _ **like**_ **,** oh yeah I had a story about this. **So here is the first chapter again, better I THINK, and I hope you think as well.** _ **I**_ **pray that you all like this story just as much as you did the first one and stick around just as long xx**

 **\- Keeley**


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